Swiss makes public the names of two Indian account holders

Switzerland has now begun making the names of those foreign account holders, who are facing the probe in their respective countries for alleged tax evasion, public. This includes the names of two Indian women account holders.

This may mark the end of Swiss bank privacy tradition, dating back to the 1930s. The Swiss authorities’ decision comes after they received requests from several countries around the world.

Various reports suggested that the Swiss had also published the dates of birth of two Indians. However, according to the business daily, the dates of birth made public were of some SL Sawhney and S Sawhney.

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) asked the two Indians named to file an appeal within 30 days before the Federal Administrative Court if they did not want their details to be shared with the Indian authorities under their ‘mutual assistance’ treaty on tax matters.

According to some reports, Swiss officials have made exceptions for American and Israeli citizens by not revealing their names. Their names will be kept confidential and they have been identified by their initials and dates of birth.

Russia Today says that this year has seen “Switzerland trying to tackle its reputation of the world’s biggest haven for offshore accounts.”

The agreement reached between the Swiss authorities and the EU in March this year was aimed at bringing transparency primarily to ensure that each EU country can collect the tax revenues it is due, the RT.com website quoted Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, as saying.